The world is fast becoming a global village due to the increasing daily requirement of energy by all population across the world while the earth in its form cannot change. The need for energy and its related services to satisfy human social and economic development, welfare and health is increasing. Returning to renewables to help mitigate climate change is an excellent approach which needs to be sustainable in order to meet energy demand of future generations. The study reviewed the opportunities associated with renewable energy sources which includes: Energy Security, Energy Access, Social and Economic development, Climate Change Mitigation, and reduction of environmental and health impacts. Despite these opportunities, there are challenges that hinder the sustainability of renewable energy sources towards climate change mitigation. These challenges include Market failures, lack of information, access to raw materials for future renewable resource deployment, and our daily carbon footprint. The ...

https://cogentoa.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23311916.2016.1167990

A review of renewable energy sources, sustainability issues and climate change mitigation

The 2011 Human Development Report argues that the urgent global challenges of sustainability and equity must be addressed together – and identifies policies on the national and global level that could spur mutually reinforcing progress towards these interlinked goals. Bold action is needed on both fronts, the Report contends, if the recent human development progress for most of the world’s poor majority is to be sustained, for the benefit of future generations as well as for those living today. Past Reports have shown that living standards in most countries have been rising – and converging – for several decades now. Yet the 2011 Report projects a disturbing reversal of those trends if environmental deterioration and social inequalities continue to intensify, with the least developed countries diverging downwards from global patterns of progress by 2050.The Report shows further how the world’s most disadvantaged people suffer the most from environmental degradation, including in their immediate personal environment, and disproportionately lack political power, making it all the harder for the world community to reach agreement on needed global policy changes. The Report also outlines great potential for positive synergies in the quest for greater equality and sustainability, especially at the national level. The Report further emphasizes the human right to a healthy environment, the importance of integrating social equity into environmental policies, and the critical importance of public participation and official accountability. The 2011 Report concludes with a call for bold new approaches to global development financing and environmental controls, arguing that these measures are both essential and feasible.

Human Development Report 2011. Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All

Human Development Report 2007/2008: fighting climate change: human solidarity in a divided world

Many climate change adaptation efforts aim to address the implications of potential changes in the frequency, intensity, and duration of weather and climate events that affect the risk of extreme impacts on human society That risk is determined not only by the climate and weather events (the hazards) but also by the exposure and vulnerability to these hazards Therefore, effective adaptation and disaster risk management strategies and practices also depend on a rigorous understanding of the dimensions of exposure and vulnerability, as well as a proper assessment of changes in those dimensions This chapter aims to provide that understanding and assessment, by further detailing the determinants of risk as presented in Chapter 1 

The first sections of this chapter elucidate the concepts that are needed to define and understand risk, and show that risk originates from a combination of social processes and their interaction with the environment (Sections 22 and 23), and highlight the role of coping and adaptive capacities (Section 24) The following section (25) describes the different dimensions of vulnerability and exposure as well as trends therein Given that exposure and vulnerability are highly context-specific, this section is by definition limited to a general overview (a more quantitative perspective on trends is provided in Chapter 4) A methodological discussion (Section 26) of approaches to identify and assess risk provides indications of how the dimensions of exposure and vulnerability can be explored in specific contexts, such as adaptation planning, and the central role of risk perception and risk communication The chapter concludes with a cross-cutting discussion of risk accumulation and the nature of disasters

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Determinants of risk: Exposure and vulnerability

Resilience is becoming influential in development and vulnerability reduction sectors such as social protection, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Policy makers, donors and international development agencies are now increasingly referring to the term. In that context, the objective of this paper was to assess in a critical manner the advantages and limits of resilience. While the review highlights some positive elements –in particular the ability of the term to foster integrated approach across sectors– it also shows that resilience has important limitations. In particular it is not a pro-poor concept, and the objective of poverty reduction cannot simply be substituted by resilience building.

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Resilience: New Utopia or New Tyranny? Reflection about the Potentials and Limits of the Concept of Resilience in Relation to Vulnerability Reduction Programmes

Summary
Reliance on subsistence agriculture means the impact of stresses and shocks (such as droughts or floods) are felt keenly by rural poor people, who depend directly on food system outcomes for their survival, with profound implications for the security of their livelihoods and welfare. However, such stresses and shocks will not necessarily lead to negative impacts, as risks and uncertainties, often associated with seasonality, are embedded in the practice of agriculture and there is considerable experience of coping and risk management strategies among people working in this sector. With climate change, the magnitude and frequency of stresses and shocks is changing and approaches such as social protection, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) will be needed to bolster local resilience and supplement people's experience.

This study examines the opportunities for linking social protection, CCA and DRR in the context of agriculture and rural growth, exploring whether linking these three approaches together will help enhance resilience to shocks and stresses in agriculture-dependent rural communities. The study does this by (i) reviewing conceptual and policy-related similarities and differences between the three disciplines, by (ii) collecting evidence from case studies where climate change-resilient social protection approaches have been trialled and by (iii) developing an adaptive social protection framework that highlight opportunities better coordination.

This paper suggests social protection and DRR measures designed to limit damages from shocks and stresses may not be sufficient in the longer term. For social protection to be resilient to climate change impacts, it will need to consider how reducing dependence on climate sensitive livelihood activities can be part of adaptive strategies. Similarly, CCA and DRR cannot effectively address the root causes of poverty and vulnerability without taking a differentiated view of poverty, something that further integration with social protection can help with.

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Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Social Protection: Complementary Roles in Agriculture and Rural Growth?

Abstract:Disaster management is dominated by top-down relief efforts that assume children and youth are passive victims with no role in communicating risks or preventing and responding to disasters. This article challenges these assumptions and critically assesses prevailing theoretical models of risk communication using two case studies that highlight the unique needs and potential roles of children and youth as resources or receivers of disaster management information. These studies in El Salvador and New Orleans used various participatory and qualitative techniques with young people, parents and policy makers. The findings suggest that the roles of children and youth as potential informants within informal and formal risk communication networks have been significantly underestimated, but their positive role in disaster risk reduction must also be seen in light of its possible burdens.

The Roles of Children and Youth in Communicating Disaster Risk

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Resilience: A risk management approach

Poorer developing countries are especially vulnerable to climate change because of their geographic exposure, low incomes and greater reliance on climate sensitive sectors, particularly agriculture. People exposed to the most severe climate-related hazards are often those least able to cope with the associated impacts, due to their limited adaptive capacity. This in turn poses multiple threats to economic growth, wider poverty reduction, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (ADB et al., 2003; Stern et al., 2006). Within this context, there is growing recognition of the potential role of social protection as a response to the multiple risks and short and long-term shocks and stresses associated with climate change. Stern (2008) argues that social protection could become one of the priority sectors for adaptation in developing countries. To date however, little is known about the linkages and value of social protection for adaptation in practice.

Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Social Protection *

In the context of climate change, the poorest people are commonly seen as having the least capacity to adapt. However, to date, there has been a limited examination of the dynamic and differentiated nature of poverty. Through bringing together both the chronic poverty and adaptation literature, this article presents a new pro-poor adaptation research agenda underpinned by a more nuanced understanding of poverty. Whilst recognising that poverty reduction efforts are threatened by climate change, this article investigates ways in which proactive adaptation could offer opportunities to create pathways out of chronic poverty through targeted vulnerability reduction and adaptation efforts.

/pdf/entrenchment-or-enhancement-could-climate-change-adaptation-2s50ty4ry8.pdf

Tom Mitchell

Papers

Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Social Protection: Complementary Roles in Agriculture and Rural Growth?

The Roles of Children and Youth in Communicating Disaster Risk

Resilience: A risk management approach

Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Social Protection *

Entrenchment or Enhancement: Could Climate Change Adaptation Help to Reduce Chronic Poverty?